Identifying and Addressing Student Difficulties with the Source-Field Relationship using Tutorials in Upper-Division Electromagnetism

Abstract

This dissertation describes an investigation of student conceptual understanding of the source-field relationship in upper-division electromagnetism. The three core aspects of the source-field relationship discussed in this dissertation are: the interpretation and use of integrals in describing superposition from distributed sources, the use of symmetry arguments to infer criteria necessary for simplifying flux and contour integrals, and the interpretation and use of vector derivatives to generalize the source-field relationship. This research is providing the beginnings of a research base for the creation and development of several tutorials in Tutorials in Physics: Electrodynamics, a set of worksheets for use in upper-division electromagnetism courses.